


Mama's Girl

by ohHOLYmoves



Series: Domestic Bliss [3]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2019-10-20
Packaged: 2020-12-24 16:23:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21102434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohHOLYmoves/pseuds/ohHOLYmoves
Summary: Jester swipes her thumbs over Hope’s cheeks, freckled like her own, and they share a smile before pressing together in a hug tighter than the last. Just one more and then she’ll let go.“I love you Mama.”“I love you too. Stay safe. Come home if you need anything, anytime. And send me messages? Whenever you can.”Or, Jester reflects on being the mother of an adventurer





	Mama's Girl

“Mama! I need to go now, or I’ll be late meeting the others!”

“Then let go!”

Hope presses further into the comfort of her mother’s arms and Jester doesn’t relent in the least, arms tightening around her trembling frame. She’s old enough now to go off on her own—even older than Jester herself had been when thrust from her home—but it’s still hard to see your only child go into uncertain horizons. Especially when Jester did more adventuring in her youth than most ever do in a single lifetime and she _knows _what is waiting for her Hope out there. Maybe not in certain terms but she has seen atrocities that shouldn’t be spoken of again, has tasted death and been the instrument of it, and known failure after failure and the toll that takes on a person. She would never try to stop Hope from her path, but a selfish part of Jester had hoped she would have taken up in some tower and spent her life time researching and doing _safe _wizard practices. 

Lavorre women would always be unstoppable forces in this world, however, and all Jester wanted was for Hope to find her place as Jester had. So, she hugs her daughter on the stoop of their home and tries to press every ounce of her love through the contact for Hope to take with her wherever she goes.

“Okay, okay, okay,” Jester smooths back the stray strands of Hope’s hair behind her ears as she draws back and they both have tears in their eyes, “Are you ready? Do you need more money? Beau! Grab more money out of the safe—”

“No, Mama, you gave me more than I should carry already. I’m okay,” She braces her hands around Jester’s biceps to ground them both and holds Jester’s watery gaze, steady but not entirely sure yet, “I’m going to be okay. I promise.”

She can’t promise. Jester knows that even if Hope might not yet know it herself because she hasn’t been in hard situations. She was raised with every need or want granted to her by the network of a forged family, leaving little space for the toughness of the world that many of her family had known. But she would learn and that’s hard for the mother that spent a child’s lifetime ensuring differently. For a moment, Jester is flung back in time to the moment when she was leaving the safety of Marion’s arms to go out into the wildness of the world unknown and she remembers how her mother had cried and threatened to never let go. If not for the threat over Jester’s head, she might not have, and Jester probably wouldn’t have wanted her to. It must have been so terribly hard for her Mama to send Jester off when she couldn’t leave herself without great pains. The memory bolters Jester in ever the slightest way because her Mama could do it then so too could Jester.

Jester swipes her thumbs over Hope’s cheeks, freckled like her own, and they share a smile before pressing together in a hug tighter than the one before. Just one more and then she’ll let go.

“I love you Mama.”

“I love you too. Stay safe. Come home if you need anything, anytime. And send me messages? Whenever you can.”

“Oh, I’ll message you like all the time. Promise, promise. You too Mom. Anytime!” Hope reaches beside Jester for Beau’s hand and Jester’s chest prickles with love when Beau gives their daughter that side smile of hers.

“You’re gonna kick ass. Bring me back something cool.”

Hope tilts her head, “Like…oh! Like a dragon tooth?”

“Oh, fuck, no. Don’t—listen, take it from us, _don’t _fuck around with dragons,” Beau juts a thumb over her shoulder, pointing towards the house behind them, “Besides, we have like six already.”

“Okay, I’ll think of something. I’ll see you guys soon, okay?”

They wave as Hope walks away, up the small pathway onto the streets to meet with the small group of bright eyed adventurers hoping to make their mark on the world. They had given Hope everything they wish they had when they began their journey all those years ago, so she could succeed where they had not. Money, magic items that had been collecting dust in their home, and more importantly, people of power she could trust. They can only pray that it will make the difference.

\--

Months pass in relative peace and quiet. The time is easy to fill when Jester has a popular book shop to run and a wife to entertain at home but each moment she’s undistracted her mind is on her daughter. Where could she be and what could she be doing? Was she safe? She wishes there was some way to tell. She has the Traveler still, of course, and knows she could just as easily scry on Hope but something stops her each time. It feels horribly invasive to check in on her daughter without her given permission beforehand and—as Beau pointed out—she doesn’t want to see something that Hope wouldn’t want her to. As time passes, though, that restraint grows thinner and thinner.

She settles for something less invasive.

Sitting behind the counter at her book shop, she spins idly in her chair while she ponders the perfect set of twenty-five words. She wants to tell Hope about the new addition to her favorite series of smutty crime novels that just arrived from Zadash and about Beau breaking her collarbone a week ago trying to help her grandma fix a roof leak and so much more but there is too much for so little words. Not having Hope around anymore was like a hole missing from Jester’s heart and it bled every time she was overwhelmed with a desire to chat someone’s ear off in Hope’s place. Her fingers skim over the rough cover of the book on the counter top as she ponders and there is a tug at her heart. She misses her daughter.

“Okay,” Jester plants her heels back on the ground to stop the spinning and lifts her chin, feeling the spell dip into the well of magic hardly tapped inside her these days, “_Hello Hope! It’s your Mama. I know you’re a super busy girl now, but I miss you and your face. How are you? Love you._”

She begins spinning again as she waits, her long hair swishing around her as she does. They haven’t done this in a while and she wonders if the delay in response is because Hope is doing something dangerous. Maybe she can’t talk right now? What if Jester distracted her just enough to get her caught and now—

_Mama! Ohhhhhh I love you too! Mama, guess what? I’m drunk! It feels tingly? I had, ah, bug juice. I’m in Marquet and I’m gonna _

Jester waits long enough that she considers sending another message in return to get the end of Hope’s thought but then another comes through.

_Sorry Mama anyway the bug juice is good I’ma bring Mom some and also I’ve decided I’m gonna kiss Reyna? Also miss youuuu boop boop _

Words don’t do enough to express how it recharges Jester’s soul to hear Hope’s voice again. Ever since she was little, Hope had been attached at Jester’s hip in the form of a precious sidekick. They had pulled pranks and told each other silly stories and Jester had lived for the admiration that had shined in Hope’s eyes when they played together. When she had gotten older, Jester had become Hope’s confidant and it still felt odd when Jester went to work and Hope wasn’t there to walk her as an excuse to chatter about gossip and crushes.

Jester’s heart thumps hard against her ribs, full of love and longing to squeeze her daughter against her in a hard hug. She felt much better now. Hope is good, she is safe, and she is happy and Jester can live another day in peace.

\--

Beau and Jester are having a day indoors together to watch the rain outside beat against the distant shore when they hear the familiar sound of a teleportation circle being activated. Neither react outside of flinching a bit in surprise because, in truth, it is used often enough that its habitual but its still unexpected. Usually, their friends send some sort of message or letter beforehand to let them know they are coming. It became a rule many years back when Caleb had popped by unannounced and found Jester and Beau in a rather naked and vulnerable state that he—as he complained forever after—could never unsee.

They decide, without words, to remain comfortably nestled in their blankets together and let whoever it is find them when they are ready. It required no immediate concern as only their closest friends knew that sigil and only those who have seen it can use it.

Until they heard shouts and the clustered sound of a group stomping around and the sudden crash of ceramic and metal hitting ground.

“—fuck! Followed us through!”

“Get Hope back, she’s—” The words are cut off by a scream of pain.

Beau has always been quicker than Jester but grew even more so as they had grown more skilled through their exploits all those years back. The speed has stayed with her and she was gone before Jester could fully extract herself from their nest. The thunder of Beau’s steps matches the rhythm of her heart beating wildly and frantically inside her, turning the pulse into her ears into a war drum that makes her feel shaky. This panic fueled adrenaline spike is old but familiar and not something she’s missed, not when it comes on the skirt tails of hearing her daughter’s name shouted in such duress. It lights up her nerves in licking flames as she races through her house behind her wife and comes barreling into the teleportation room.

It’s chaos. They had decided to put the circle in a mostly unused library because of the brick walls and the lack of windows so the shelves that line walls hardly held much except trophies of their adventuring years. Now, most of them were ripped down and scattered across the floor to mingle with the arrangement of bodies in varying states of injury. Centermost in the room, standing over the dimming circle, was an imposing body wrapped from head to toe in black linins with glowing runes stitched into them and a huge two handed hammer clutched between both hands. Blood dripped from the face of it.

“What the fuck?” The words left Jester in a hot breath, carrying a sudden rising current of anger and worry. Her eyes cut to her daughter, curled up against the far wall with her arm clutched to her chest. It was at an odd angle. A dark skinned half elf was beside her, blood pouring from her hairline, and trying to shield Hope’s form with her own slight self. Hope caught her stare and Jester’s stomach fell to her feet when she saw the absolute terror swimming in the depths of her eyes.

“Mama, run! Don’t—”

Another one of them rushes at the thing with his own hefty maul and the creature swats it away like it’s a fly. His momentum is knocked off and Jester can feel the crack of his bones when the creature slams him hard enough with his hammer to throw him backwards into another set of shelves. Hope continues, more frantic than before, “It can’t be killed. We didn’t mean to wake it up. It followed us when we tried to run—” There is another crack that once again interrupts her and Jester knows the sound so intimately that she is the only one not startled by it. It’s Beau slamming a flurry of blows against the entity in rapid succession, knuckles glowing from the old magic brass knuckles that use to sit on one of these shelves. The sharp edges of them pierce the creatures face beneath the linin wraps and ugly gore spills from it, black and writhing like a puddle of worms. The creature emits a vile wet sound and reacts with a swing of his hammer that Beau easily dodges beneath and leaves Jester the exact amount of time she needs to fire off a spell. She moves a little closer—passing a bracing hand over her wife’s back as she is forced back by the creature’s attacks—and knocks her own fist against the thing. As she does, divine magic pools within her and the air grows heavy and wobbles around them until it swirls beneath the creature’s feet to rise in a pattern of fire reds and abysmal black that consumes it and pulls it from this plane into another. The silence that follows makes Jester’s ears ring.

“What? Where is it? What did you do!?” One cries.

Another incorrectly answers, “Banishment.”

“No, that’s different. She sent it away for good. Right, Mama?” Hope lifts her eyes to Jester as she approaches, and they are heavy with pain and there is a darkness around them that indicates she hasn’t slept in days. Jester neglects to answer. Blood is dripping down the side of Hope’s face in thick curtains, drizzling over the bruised, bared part of her throat where her high collar has been ripped. Her little girl. This was never something she wanted to see. Her hands shake as she takes Hope’s face into her hand, stomach twisting violently when the slick of her blood touches Jester’s skin.

“Hope, my baby,” Jester scans her body for further injury and feels a twist of sympathetic pain at the oozing stab wound in her shoulder, “are you—let me help you.”

Hope grabs her wrist before she can try, “I’m okay Mama. Sven is hurt really bad though,” She gestures at the crumpled up genasi unconscious and bleeding onto the floor, “I’ll be fine—”

“No, Hope, hold still, I can do both.”

“I can—Miss Lavorre, I can help Hope a little,” The half elf offers, big almond eyes full of tears valiantly trying to clear away the blood in them, “It’s not much but it might—”

“You better be sure.” Jester snaps, letting a rare burst of anger rise to surface. The girl swallows visibly and Jester thinks, _good. _This is her daughter and she will never budge even an inch when it comes to daughter. Hope huffs and swats at Jester weakly.

“Be nice Mama. I like this one.” 

Despite the situation and the fact that her daughter is _bleeding out_ in her home, on her floor, the sweet playful way Hope is with her smothers the small flames of protectiveness that were burning. It’s a sure sign that her baby is _okay. _Jester feels a bit of her impish nature slip into her sudden smile, “I’m _always _nice.”

“Wait, wait,” Hope catches her wrist before she can go help the other one, “grandma can’t know about this. She’ll die.”

“She’ll die? What about me, your poor loving Mama?” Hope shrugs with a cheeky little smile and it’s the first time Jester has seen it since her last visit over a year ago so even if it has blood between the teeth it settles Jester. Because Hope is okay and alive, for now. She brushes her knuckles over Hope’s cheek and kisses her nose and promises, silently, to come back for her.

\--

“They kind of remind me of us, at that age.” Beau mumbles, chin propped on Jester’s shoulder and arms wrapped around her waist while they watch the small group play in the surf. There is a chorus of shrieks and laughter as the bulky one lifts Hope and tosses her into the ocean with a splash they hear from the house. Delighted laughter and cursing from Hope after she surfaces brings a smile to Jester’s lips.

“Because our house is basically their free inn?”

“Oh, yeah, huh? I forgot we did that to Marion all the time. No, I meant how they shake off bad shit like that and keep going.”

“I guess,” Jester folds her hands over Beau’s around her and tilts her head against her wife’s, keen eyes watching Hope emerge dripping from the surf to hug the bard—_Reyna—_the one she _likes, _“I always thought that was part of it though.”

“Nah, I don’t think so. I think its what separates us. You know, the heroes never give up no matter what.”

“I never wanted to be a hero.”

“Do any real heroes ever? Either way, I’m proud of her.”

Hope’s joyous laughter fills her ears as she’s lifted off her feet by the bard and both topple over because strength isn’t something either of them are in large supply of. The bulky one—Grey—lifts both and, once again, tosses them into the ocean then jumps in after them. At the very least, its so obvious that her daughter is finding a family like Jester had herself once and that’s something her heart can’t deny.

“Me too. I just,” Jester blows a breath between her teeth, shoulders slumping in defeat, “I don’t want to see that again.”

“I’m okay with it.”

Jester’s brows dip low over her eyes and jerks away enough to fix the stern look on her wife.

“I mean, I haven’t got to beat ass like that in a long time. Felt good.”

“She almost died, _Beau._”

That stupid half smile that melts Jester, “Nah, she had you. She always has you. The best cleric _and _the best mom.”

“Okay, flirty,” Jester delights, smiling a little and then a little more when Beau presses a kiss against her dimple, “but what if I’m not there? What do we do if…”

“Dunno, Jessie. It’s hard. It’s always gonna be hard until she decides to stop. We just have to do what your Mom did.”

Jester looks back at the rowdy group, all sitting in the surf as it rushes gently in and out, singing along to some silly _filthy _song and devolving into laughter as it reaches its apex. They are close and all of them really are capable, all things considered. Perhaps her wife is right.

“We trust them?”

“Mhm.”

Jester sighs, “I guess.”

\--

“Mama?”

Jester glances up from her painting and feels a tickle of love warm her as Hope steps into the room, clean and in a new dress. They had gone out together yesterday and picked it out, like they had when Hope use to live there. It was a small thing but it had been comforting for Jester in a way she hadn’t realized she needed. It reminded her that no matter how far away Hope went or what she had endured that she would always be her little girl.

“Are you leaving?”

She looks a little sad for it and, maybe Beau is right, Hope really is her daughter in every way. She fidgets in the doorway for a heartbeat then rushes over to throw her arms around Jester.

“I wish we could have stayed longer. And, maybe, not fuck up the teleport room so bad.”

Jester snorts and pats her daughter’s head, “It’s okay, Cupcake. It happens. I’m just happy I got to see you and meet your friends. Besides, you _did _promise to bring your Mom something when you came back.”

“Yeah, oh my gosh, why didn’t you tell me Mom was such a badass? I mean, you told me, but wow. She punched that thing _so hard!?_”

Jester’s eyes widen with excitement and she wiggles a little, jostling Hope with her, “I _told _you! One time, I saw her punch this huge minotaur demon thing so hard that she punched his whole heart out. It was as big as me, Hope.” Jester holds her arms out to show Hope the size and Hope’s warm little titter is so full of delight. She lays her head on Jester’s shoulder and Jester gives her a peck to the forehead.

“I’ll miss you, Mama.”

“Miss you too, Cupcake. Come back to visit more, maybe? Your friends can come too. We have a big house. Next time they can meet Grandma. Or maybe just your bard, hm?” Jester nudges her daughter who absolutely lights up, “She’s cute.”

“Told you so.”

“Nicer than the last one. What was his name? The pretty one.”

Hope rolls her eyes with a little huff, “We don’t talk about him.”

“Oh, that’s right,” Jester squeezes her daughter one last time before pulling away to get one last good look at her, “Okay, well. Love you.”

“Love you too. I’ll be safer this time, promise.”

Jester’s heart sinks a little but there is a joy somewhere in the depths of the fall, “No you won’t.”

“Well, I’ll _try._ I can promise to try, at least.”

“I’ll take that. Now,” Jester taps her on the point of her chin and gives her a sly look, “you better hurry ‘cause Mom told me she was gonna talk to your Reyna before you all left.”

Hope’s eyes widen, “What!? Mama, why would you let her do that!? You know how she is! And I actually like this one. Shit, bye, love you, bye! I’ll send presents! Bye!”

Jester waves her goodbyes with a heart that’s torn in two, both leaving with Hope to go on whatever adventure awaits and thrumming painfully at the loss of its half. She knows now at least that her Hope is in good hands. It’s all a mother can hope for.

Still, she’s not sure how her mother did this so many times when she was Hope’s age and running around with the Mighty Nein doing things twice as dangerous as what Hope does. She’ll just have to do as her mother did before her and trust in the company her daughter has chosen and wait, with bated breath, for each message she gets. And, eventually, the wind will bring her Hope home.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! It's too much fun writing this family and their moments together.


End file.
